Only six U.S. Air Force B-1 heavy bombers ready for combat... - Page 2

General » General Discussion

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Only six U.S. Air Force B-1 heavy bombers ready for combat... (Page 2 of 3)

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:51:22 PM EST

[#1]

All that free shit ain't gonna pay for itself. Something had to go.

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:51:54 PM EST

[#2]

Dat ass doh.

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:54:51 PM EST

[#3]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hypersonic missiles are the future anyway. Or ultra fast, high altitude bombers. I’m talking almost outer space shit.

View Quote

I agree. The next war will be conducted long range with missiles, then airplanes. The survivability of fast high flight is undeniable.

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:57:52 PM EST

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
While the Bone is badass, what does it do that B2’s, Cruise misses and F-35’s can’t?

View Quote

It outranges most cruise missiles, and isn’t as dependent upon tankers as the F-35 iirc.
As for the B-2, we don’t have that many of those.

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:57:58 PM EST

[#5]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hypersonic missiles are the future anyway. Or ultra fast, high altitude bombers. I’m talking almost outer space shit.

View Quote

Space shuttle door gunner shit.

Posted: 7/31/2019 9:58:37 PM EST

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hopefully the B-21 replacing it isnt a turd

View Quote

It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:00:10 PM EST

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
While the Bone is badass, what does it do that B2’s, Cruise misses and F-35’s can’t?

View Quote

Carries 2x the weight of the B-52.

Lower radar signature than the B-52.

Faster.

Newer.

B-52 should have died long ago. The Bone is superior in every way and stands a better chance of survival against a nation with a 1/2 decent AAA system.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:01:07 PM EST

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Hopefully the B-21 replacing it isnt a turd

It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

We bought ALOT of B52s
We bought what, maybe 100ish B1s
We bought like 20 B-2s.

We'll probably end up with like 4 B-21s

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:07:37 PM EST

[#9]

Weird. I drove by Ellsworth AFB today. Magnificent aircraft.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:10:22 PM EST

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Six more than anyone else has.

View Quote

Not so fast broski

Attached File

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:10:54 PM EST

[#11]

Quote History

Quoted:

Why would a huge aircraft have a joke of a payload?

Your bigger issue is getting enough of them built and combat ready.

View Quote

Because the current stealth bomber has a joke of a payload. The B1 has been used hard for good reason, it's an actual bomber that can deliver a shit load of pain over long distances, 125,000 lbs when they use the external hard points, the B2 can carry 40,000 lbs.
The B-1 is also flying CAS and has delivered more ordinance than anything else we have in that role, you probably had no clue it was even doing this. Big payloads, and long time on station, they're even thinking about putting guns on them because they're so dam good at CAS.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/01/14/b-1b-lancers-evolving-mission-take-more-close-air-support.html

These new stealth planes can't carry shit and they're going to need to fly a massive number of times to destroy any major infrastructure. What you're proposing is more planes, flying more hours, for the same destruction, so you want a more expensive military.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:11:55 PM EST

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
B-1s always been a turd.

View Quote

Even if its a turd its still better than probably every other bomber on the planet.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:13:22 PM EST

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:

A subsonic turd!

Impressive to watch noisy as hell, freedom boner inducing subsonic turd!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RoF6TS_Cjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjO-gahxp8

View Quote

We had one come over the shop while burning fuel with a problem. It was very impressive to see it coming at you low.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:13:32 PM EST

[#14]

Its the end of the fiscal year. Everything is down and there is no money to fix it.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:14:38 PM EST

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:

Always enjoyed seeing them fly out of Dyess when I would be driving by.

View Quote

Lucky, all I got was B52s during the cold wars.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:22:52 PM EST

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
Six more than anyone else has.

View Quote

I mean, Russia has 16 Tu-160s, and they're essentially the same thing.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:23:14 PM EST

[#17]

Quote History

Quoted:
Are they still flying?

The last I heard, they were going to be AIM-120 missile carriers, to back up the F-22's.

Dumb fucking idea.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
B-1s always been a turd.

Are they still flying?

The last I heard, they were going to be AIM-120 missile carriers, to back up the F-22's.

Dumb fucking idea.

Dumb.

What about a Bone carrying SM-4’s, 6’s from 400 miles away?

Out of range if Chinese and Russian Air to air missiles and a lot more legs than the AIM-120 or the new AIM-260.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:24:55 PM EST

[#18]

Not a B-1 issue. It is the detiorating USAF Maintenance and leadership issue.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:26:14 PM EST

[#19]

The Bone should be retired. They got (too much) use flying 12 hour flights from Diego Garcia to drop JDAMs on Afghanistan, but they're too much money for minimal utility.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:33:55 PM EST

[#20]

The global reach of US strategic bombers is something that truly is priceless.

As is the amount of support they can bring to troops on the ground.

Reading about how the French were over run at Dien Bien Phu, and how close the US came on a number of occasions during Vietnam, massive US air power was the difference.

I spoke at length with a group officers about their experiences in Vietnam, they said the B-52 supporting places like Ap Bac was the difference between them being completely overrun and surviving another day.

The aircraft had such an enormous psychological effect on the NVA, it cannot easily be quantified.

The US will be very heavily dependent on them IF there is another war in Asia.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:35:06 PM EST

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hypersonic missiles are the future anyway. Or ultra fast, high altitude bombers. I’m talking almost outer space shit.

View Quote

Indeed. Those interceptors already smack Mach14, what's to say a warhead cant?

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:42:59 PM EST

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
The Bone should be retired. They got (too much) use flying 12 hour flights from Diego Garcia to drop JDAMs on Afghanistan, but they're too much money for minimal utility.

View Quote

Just because they can fly to anywhere in the world doesn't mean that it makes sense to do that for every mission. So many airframe hours were wasted because they didn't want to fly out of an airfield closer to the action.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:49:56 PM EST

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:

I mean, Russia has 16 Tu-160s, and they're essentially the same thing.

View Quote

How does a -160 compare with the B1?

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:57:28 PM EST

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:

How does a -160 compare with the B1?

View Quote

-160 probably looks better on paper while the B1 is very good in real life.

Posted: 7/31/2019 10:58:02 PM EST

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
Say it with me: "Peace dividend"

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Wikipedia said there were 100 built.

Say it with me: "Peace dividend"

Nope, there were not enough spare parts built for it. A third of the fleet was retired to create spare parts.

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:01:11 PM EST

[#26]

Thought I heard a year or two ago that they were being mothballed. Guess I remembered wrong.
I built radar simulator data for them 20 some years ago.

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:01:20 PM EST

[#27]

I cringe every time I read that damn Boeing taking credit for other people's fine work.
It's a Rockwell B-1B goddammit!

It was a winning design, built by fine people, in the best decade of the 20th century. Palmdale CA was aerospace city, with Rockwell, Lockheed, Northrop, and McDonnell Douglas represented. Boeing wasn't there, and nowadays, all they are doing is claiming the name, while ruining what's left of a great industry.

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:02:59 PM EST

[#28]

Quote History

Quoted:
How does a -160 compare with the B1?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

I mean, Russia has 16 Tu-160s, and they're essentially the same thing.

How does a -160 compare with the B1?

it's 25% bigger

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:04:54 PM EST

[#29]

We going the way of the Luftwaffe.

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:14:44 PM EST

[#30]

manned aircraft are a dead end.

elon musk is going to make orbital bombardment cost effective.

Posted: 7/31/2019 11:42:32 PM EST

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Hopefully the B-21 replacing it isnt a turd

It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

I just pray they use COTS where possible. No need to design a proprietary fuel valve when Boeing and airbus have hundreds of valve sitting in warehouses.

But I know that’s not how defense spending works.

Posted: 8/1/2019 12:04:38 AM EST

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
manned aircraft are a dead end.

elon musk is going to make orbital bombardment cost effective.

View Quote

Till someone hacks them and turns them against you.

Posted: 8/1/2019 12:52:14 PM EST

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:
manned aircraft are a dead end.

elon musk is going to make orbital bombardment cost effective.

View Quote

"The end is inevitable, Maverick! Your kind is headed for extinction."
"Maybe so, Sir. . . . but not today."

TOP GUN 2: MAVERICK Official Trailer (2020) Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly Movie HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u6jOu3N5yU

Posted: 8/1/2019 1:36:40 PM EST

[#34]

I saw one doing a flyover at Dyess AFB. Unique siloutte

Posted: 8/1/2019 1:42:19 PM EST

[#35]

This will make you sad.

Posted: 8/1/2019 1:48:30 PM EST

[#36]

That is pretty bad but they are tired. Get them the funding to get them repaired and back in service. We can't allow a bomber gap.

Posted: 8/1/2019 1:50:25 PM EST

[#37]

Quote History

Quoted:
While the Bone is badass, what does it do that B2’s, Cruise misses and F-35’s can’t?

View Quote

Deliver more boom per buck in locations where the airspace is not particularly contested?
The stealth stuff's great but expensive to operate and we don't have that many. They also don't carry a whole lot of actual load. They clear the path, more conventional stuff handles the heavy lifting, then the ground pounders do their thing.
It's the same reason we still operate B52's and the F/A-18 has the A in there. Sometimes all you need to do is get the ordnance to the right place and hit the target. If you can do that for 1/4 or 1/10 the cost per weight of explosive... Stealth only has value if someone's able to stop you.

Posted: 8/1/2019 1:53:01 PM EST

[#38]

First post nails it.

Posted: 8/1/2019 2:09:49 PM EST

[#39]

How many do you need?

We could pretty much kick anybody's ass with what we got except China and Russia, and if those cards ever get played, well... pretty much everybody is gonna lose something.

Posted: 8/1/2019 2:17:50 PM EST

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:
Not a B-1 issue. It is the detiorating USAF Maintenance and leadership issue.

View Quote

Agree. We spend over 700B per year on the mil these days and yes, if the AF can't figure out how to keep a major asset flying with that money they should be fired.

Posted: 8/1/2019 2:19:32 PM EST

[#41]

Quote History

Quoted:
While the Bone is badass, what does it do that B2's, Cruise misses and F-35's can't?

View Quote

It looks cool as fuck, that's what.

Posted: 8/1/2019 2:21:41 PM EST

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:
And the B-52’s?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

Carry a 125,000 lb. bomb load (twice that of the B-2.)

And the B-52’s?

The figure I've heard is 70,000 lbs.

Others here would know better than I.

Posted: 8/1/2019 2:25:10 PM EST

[#43]

Six huh....

Guess that will have to do...

Posted: 8/1/2019 4:15:53 PM EST

[#44]

Quote History

Quoted:
I cringe every time I read that damn Boeing taking credit for other people's fine work.
It's a Rockwell B-1B goddammit!

It was a winning design, built by fine people, in the best decade of the 20th century. Palmdale CA was aerospace city, with Rockwell, Lockheed, Northrop, and McDonnell Douglas represented. Boeing wasn't there, and nowadays, all they are doing is claiming the name, while ruining what's left of a great industry.

View Quote

I agree. On the other hand there is still a B-1 office. In any case, Boeing would take credit for F-86's ...

Hell, scroll to the bottom of the page -

https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/boeing-2015/a-century-in-the-sky/652/

Posted: 8/1/2019 4:19:45 PM EST

[#45]

Quote History

Quoted:
I just pray they use COTS where possible. No need to design a proprietary fuel valve when Boeing and airbus have hundreds of valve sitting in warehouses.

But I know that’s not how defense spending works.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Hopefully the B-21 replacing it isnt a turd

It'll be fine. Top men are working on the airplane, and it's going to cost a lot of money.

I just pray they use COTS where possible. No need to design a proprietary fuel valve when Boeing and airbus have hundreds of valve sitting in warehouses.

But I know that’s not how defense spending works.

Don't count on that, very little COTS equipment meets qualification requirements for details such as shock and vibe or even environmental requirements. Then there's the complication of fitting equipment to the structure, so custom housings and chassis are used.

I think I have an old structures design handbook that recommends placing the equipment, control runs, wiring, plumbing, hinges, mechanisms, and so on, then drawing the structure to support those crucial items. That's a comical concept in Real Life.